welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, january 31st, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. israeli fighter jets have

carried out an attack in syria. there's conflicting reports as to what that target was. the planes attacked a research center near the capapal of damascus. state media carried a statement from the syrian military. it said the jets targeted a scientific research facility. the attack adds to what it calls israel's history of aggression against arabs and muslims. reuters report the plane bombed a convoy. they suggested trucks were carrying weapons. israeli prime minister said on sunday weapons were flowing out of syria and that israelis must be fully prepared. he's concerned that syrian made missiles and chemical weapons may reach hezbollah.

countries around the world have pledged more than $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid for syria. 4.7 syrians need help including millions forced from their homes. >> translator: it's freezing here. we get only one blanket for family. many people are sick. >> representatives of quikuwaitd the united arabs pledged money. >> there's no military solution. this should be resolved through

political solution. french troops are gaining ground in mali. they have taken control of the airport near algeria. french troops launched an operation three weeks ago. mali is a former frempnch colon. arabs have been kidnapped suspected of having links to the rebels and they have ramsacked shops. they sent a threat in nigeria.

three chinese naval vessels have left for exercises in the western pacific ocean be comments fueled concerns among china ea china's neighbors over how the military will deal with the number of territory disputes. people living in china know the air they have been breathing

is bad. they've created a higher smog alert to track air pollution. the amount of high particulate air has been high. an increasing number of chinese are suffering from respiratory problems. they decided to add a third level to their two-level smog alert. the highest warning now advises people to stay indoors. >> translator: i can't stand it anymore. i want to leave this place. >> translator: it's the worst i've ever seen. >> people have also turned to the chinese social networking site to complain. others have expressed themselves in song. ♪

china's air pollution is believed to be making its way to neighboring countries. this map shows the suspected distribution of particles. red and purple indicate the particles are high. the government is trying to clean up the air. >> translator: relevant authorities are taking emergency measures. the government will make more positive effort to regulate emissions and pollution. >> chinese premier has ordered

that effective measures be introduced to slash emissions. south korean officials are claiming a first. for the first time they have successfully launched a rocket into space. it's an achievement claimed by only a worldwide. it blasted off from a facility in the southwest. >> translator: our scientists and engineers successful launched the narrow rocket today. it blasted off at 4:00 p.m. and 540 seconds later sent its scientific satellite into orbit. >> the rocket was developed with russian help. it will measure ion and radiation levels in space. people around the country

celebrated the event. they made two previous attempts. both failed. officials in many countries believe the north was really testing ballistic weapons technology. policymakers in the united states feel their economy still need their help. what can you tell us? >> i've been reading through the stam and they feel there's been a pause in the u.s. economy and they're not yet confidence about the job situation. they want to see a lower unemployment rate. they will continue their current ease to support the economy. the u.s. federal reserve made the decision at a two-day meeting of it federal open market committee that ended wednesday. the policymakers said in a statement that growth and economic activity had paused in recent months. this was despite improvements in the housing market, personal

spending and business investment. the federal reserve attributed the slow down to a high jobless rate and the effects of hurricane sandy which hit the u.s. east coast last year. the fed said it will continue buying mortgage backed securities and treasury bonds worth $85 billion a month. the key interest rate will be kept at virtually zero as long as the unemployment rate stays above 6.5%. the u.s. jobless rate stood at 7.8% in december. the u.s. economy shrank in the first months. officials at the u.s. commerce department released on wednesday the preliminary gross domestic product data for the october to december period. they said the economy contracted by an annualized pace of minus

0.1% from the previous quarter. the first negative figure since the second quarter of 2009. that's when the company was suffering from the financial crisis in 2008. the report says u.s. exports dropped 5.7%. government expenditure also fell by 6.6% and defense related spending plunged by 22%. on the brighter side personal spending was up over 2% from the previous quarter. this was led by strong auto sales. personal consumption accounts for 12% of u.s. gdp. company spending was also up over 8%. that's a turn around from the previous quarter. we have the latest indicator on japanese activity. factory output last month turned up after showing negative growth

in november. industrial output rose 2.5% from the previous month. production of transport equipment like cars contributed to the rise. officials forecast industrial output will rise 2.6% in january and 2.3% in february. let's get a check on the markets. tokyo stocks are lower today. some investors are locking in profits after the nikkei index rose above the key 11,000 level on wednesday. others are buying as they anticipate a further decline in the yen. trading down by half a percent, 11,052 at the moment. the dollar is little changed against the yen. they're wanting u.s. economic trends following that decline in

the gdp. they are focused on the u.s. jobs data which is due out friday. the dollar against the yen 91.02 to 04. the euro is trading at a 33 month high against the yen. that's because worries over euro debt issues are receding. looking at other markets in the asia pacific region. south korea's kospi is down 19,019 19,057. toyota motor has announced another global recall. the problem this time is defective air bags and windows. toyota says it's calling in 1.3 million cars worldwide. they include corolla compact

sedans between 2001 and 2004. the lexus luxury model between 2005 and 2011 at 385,000 units. the air bags may not inflate properly in reaction to electric signals from other signals and in the lexus, the front window wipers may not be properly secured and could get stuck. toyota says it has received reports so far of 18 incidents of the air bag defect causing injury in the united states. i'll have more updates for you next hour. i'm going to leave you with a check on markets.

a controversial new u.s. movie about the hunt for osama bin laden will not be shown in pakistan. distributors there say they're worried about how the public will react. the oscar nominated "zero dark thirty" depicts a cia analyst tracking down the former al qaeda leader in pakistan. u.s. forces killed him in a hideout near islamabad in may 2011. a marketing manager at a movie distributor says many pakistanis sympathize with bin laden and are frustrated with the u.s. military operation in the country. >> there are sentiments of the public towards taliban or

towards, you know, osama. and this -- we might hurt -- this film is hurting that. >> last september thousands of pakistanis protested against another u.s.-made film. they claimed insulted the prophet muhammad. more than 20 people died in clashes with police. pakistani authorities have since blocked access to the video-sharing website youtube. they've also banned sales of video games showing u.s. troops fighting terrorists in pakistan. wildlife officials in malaysia are investigating the mysterious deaths of endangered elephants. the thai navy blocked them from landing on soil. it's the latest incident in the crackdown on the minority muslims. thailand is facing a mass influx of refugees from neighboring countries. on tuesday naval forces intercepted more than 20 0 migrants. a boat packed with men was

heading south when it was spotted. more than 1700 are in custody. the thai authorities would normally deport them. facing international pressure they have stopped deportations but they have announced they plan to turn boats away. a conflict broke out last may after a group of muslims assaulted a buddhist woman. an estimated 800,000 have living in myanmar where they have been denied citizenship. the unite nations estimate that 13,000 people fled myanmar and

bangladesh in 2012 with some dying on route. economic growth doesn't always go with freedom of expression. an organization defending the rights of international journalist has put attention. reporters without orders on wednesday, the report ranks countries based on an assessment of the commitment made by government to protect freedom of the press. the organization did not put asean in the top 100. myanmar jumped up 18 spots to 151st place. the former military regime has taken significant steps to ending the censorship. showing no signs of improvement, vietnam remained at 172 and laos

at 168. the group saw a decline in south asia. india fell to 140th place. journalists were assaulted and threatened during anti-government protests in the country. pakistan took the 159th spot due to the absence of government policy to protect media workers. in pakistan, a reporter was shot dead by islamic militants. the reporters without borders index calls pakistan one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. wildlife officials in malaysia are investigating the mysterious death of endangered elephants. in the past few weeks, they have found ten dead animals in a rainforest. all the carcasses were found in

the forest reserve in eastern malaysia. in one case, a calf was found apparently trying to wake its dead mother. a wildlife representative said on tuesday that they have likely died from poisoning from something they ate. a department veterinarian said that he suffered from hemorrhages. they live in the rainforest of the island. in 2003, they proved they are distinct species. they are smaller than other species in africa and other parts of asia the world wildlife fund has said that less than 1500 live in the wild and prevent them from damaging crops. the organization is calling for their conservation. >> gas street lights are an

integral part of landscape in berlin. they have lit up for 200 years. this old tradition is now facing a turning point. nhk world has more. >> filling the streets with a soft yellow light. the design is typical of the 19th century. the earliest models are nearly 200 years old. more than 40,000 units are still in use. >> the atmosphere is fantastic. >> it gives me peace. >> in the days of the cold war, west berlin was surrounded by

east germany, updating the city's infrastructure was no easy task. the old gas lamps survived. >> the tear down of the lanterns has begun. last year, authorities began replacing the gas lights with electric models. one of them is an effort to cut costs. the aging lamps are also prone to staying lit during the day. city officials say the switchover will slash costs by up to 90% for land and reduce carbon emissions.

>> gas lights are clearly outdated. technically speaking, they are relics of the past. the decision sparked public protests. >> removal work must be stopped. >> working as a radiology technician, he organized one of the demonstrations. people formed a human chain around one of the removal sites when the work began, protesters tried to interfere. >> today's action proved successful. we managed to holt the removal work.

>> but the next day it was replaced with an electric light pole. pieces were scattered on the ground. a petition to save the historic land, he gathered signatures from more than 20,000 people. >> i'll do whatever i need to protect them. >> the capital push to means it would soon be related to the pages of history. nhk world, berlin. people in eastern parts of

the united states are dealing with severe weather conditions. meteorologist sayaka mori is joining us. >> a violent storm has hitting the u.s. to show you the situation, let's take a look at this footage. the central and south eastern u.s. have been hit by severe storms. tornadoes ripped through mississippi, indiana and tennessee killing one person. buildings and homes were severely damaged. in indianapolis crews are still trying to secure down power lines after the storm moved through the area. the residents along the eastern seaboard is on alert for tornadoes at this moment. further tornado is likely and

torrential rain as well. by thursday morning things will be letting up. rain will be letting up. nice calm conditions should return. south eastern canada will remain unsettled throughout thursday. back behind it because of a strong northwesterly winds snow is falling around the great lakes region up to 35 centimeters is likely into the next 24 hours. more heavy snow is falling in the knnorthwest. ahead of the area very dry but very windy and very chilly. we have wind chill warnings and advisories posted. with the wind chill factors you feel like minus 15 degrees or so. temperatures are as follows, very chilly minus 21 degrees for winnipeg and minus 8 degrees in chicago. the cold air will move toward

the southeast. new york city at 9 degrees on thursday but will plummet to 1 degrees on friday. in europe a series of low pressure systems is producing extremely windy conditions across the north. conditions will remain almost the same for the next several days but to the south very dry and lots of sunshine for you and temperatures are in the double digits. similarly warm across the west but cooling down to 9 degrees in berlin on thursday. finally in east asia a big high pressure system is covering much of japan bringing dry and mild conditions and abundance of sunshine. even heavy snow in the northwest have let up. good conditions for shoveling snow today. snow is moving into northern china including beijing where as we've been reporting dense fog has been blanketing this area.

as the precipitation comes in conditions will finally improve. to the south rain is intensifying along the river valley. the rain will also move into the whole of the caribbean peninsula as well as western japan. as for temperatures, 9 degrees in tokyo. we'll plummet to 18 degrees on saturday. warming up to 17 in shanghai. here is your extended forecast.

that concludes this edition of "newsline." do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the hour.